Your CV is one of the most important parts of your job hunt. Make is stand out from the crowd and convince recruiters that you are an outstanding candidate.
If you are currently in your last semester at university, meeting your deadlines and studying for your exam should be top priority, so anything else could almost seem unmanageable to achieve. However, if you are looking to go into full-time employment after graduating, now is the perfect time to start applying for opportunities!
Your CV is what makes your first impression to a recruiter, so even though writing a CV might feel tedious, it is valuable as it might be the only direct communication with a potential employer. With so many top tips available to you, it can be difficult to understand how to approach this crucial part of graduate job hunting. Although some CVs are unique and tailored to specific industry, there are key elements that recruiters appreciate!
A great CV should:
Before we start looking at what makes your CV stand out, we need to be aware that technology has changed the way CVs are viewed, so although your CV might look nice on paper, it does not meant that it looks good on a computer or mobile phone. So how do you make your CV computer and mobile friendly and grab the attention of a recruiter?
How to make your CV stand out?
If you feel that your CV is fine but you are not getting responses, then please share questions in the comments box and I will be more than happy to give you some advice.
Recruiter to graduate guide, written by a recent graduate-turned-recruiter.
Only 6 months ago I was looking and applying for jobs myself, feeling rejected and not good enough.
Having been through intensive training as a recruitment consultant, I have now moved into my current role, recruiting graduates! During many conversations, I have been able to sympathise with the uncertainty in graduate's voices as they are trying to navigate their way through this new chapter.
The following tips are just a few which can help you stand out from a call list made up of hundreds of graduates. They are simple, effective and do not require much further research or work. Starting my journey as a recruiter, I quickly learned that the thoughts I had as a graduate, which included doubts over the skills I could offer to businesses full of experienced individuals, were far from reality. I have now discovered that graduates bring the flexibility, creativity, motivation and skills that a business needs to stay competitive and dynamic. Changing this mindset and incorporating some of the following tips could be your secret to success!
Set up a professional voicemail message
This is the first form of communication that recruiters will have if you happen to be away from your phone or, like most of us, are screening your calls! This will boost your credibility, make you seem more competent and encourage the caller to try you again. Keep it simple, short and to the point. Make sure you check your voicemails and text messages as most recruiters will try to call first before sending an email.
Have a conversation
When recruiters call they will be asking open ended questions. This is your opportunity to sell yourself, so do not take it for granted. Do not be scared to do most of the talking. If you get asked to talk about your current situation, try to provide some detail rather than a short answer. We like to know that people are capable of answering such questions and holding a natural and engaging conversation. Equally, the ability to communicate articulately is a skill many employers are looking for.
Naturally, your answers will vary, however a few tips include:
Currently working or in education (university) but looking for a new opportunity?
- Talk about what you are enjoying as well as what you are finding difficult (put a positive spin to this and think about what these tough situations have taught you).
- When making a point evidence it with examples, so mentioning figures and statistics is always a good idea such as KPIs, targets, number of assignments/exams completed
- What is important for you for your next role or any future plans you might have, for example studying abroad or any internships/training. (This will open up a new conversation as the recruiter will be able to tell you about the roles that they have available which might be suitable for you).
Unemployed and looking for a job?
-Previous employment and the things that you enjoyed there as well as the reason that you left (again, there could be many reasons for this however try to avoid blaming somebody else for your decision to leave work, and instead talk about everything you enjoyed and your transferable skills as a result of that job).
- If you are participating in any projects or events then talk about those
- Alternatively, feel free to talk about non-commercial elements such as your family, friends or hobbies/sport; we love it when personality comes through, just remember to keep the examples relevant.
Be aware of what is on your CV
As a recruiter, there is nothing worse than asking somebody to talk about their experience within their CV and hearing silence on the other side of the phone. A few tips to avoid the awkward silences include:
Know what is on your CV and be ready to talk about your roles and the companies that you worked for
If there are any gaps within your CV then address those. In order to represent you correctly, we need to understand the reasons behind any gaps.
If you would like to take this one step further and impress then try the following:
- Apply your experience to the job that you are seeking
- Talk about the organization's culture and how you would fit in
- What value can you bring to the organization which is different to other applicants
Ask questions
It is always favorable to ask questions at the end. This does three things, firstly, it shows that you have put some thought into your questions. Secondly, it increases your knowledge, allowing you to assess further if this position and company is right for you. Finally, it demonstrates enthusiasm and interest in the role!
Send a thoughtful follow-up note after your conversation
Sending a note that thanks the recruiter for their time and expresses your enthusiasm for the role goes a long way. A good tip is to mention something that you spoke about during the conversation. This not only shows commitment but it shows that you were paying attention!
I hope this is useful and will allow you to impress future recruiters. If you have found this useful, please feel free to comment and share as I would love to know what you guys think. If there is anything that you would like me to cover on my next blog post then please comment below with some topic ideas. Additionally, if you would like to know more about recruitment as a future career then please comment below or email me at [email protected]
Thank you.
16 Reasons why Retailers make fantastic Recruitment Consultants: Part 1
So, cards on the table…
The retail & hospitality market is back in growth and we are recruiting! We try to avoid selling ‘stuff’ on this site because we have always seen it as our way of giving something back to the communities that support us. This time though, we believe that you, the reader of this blog, are the type of person that we want to recruit for our business. You may already work in recruitment, if so that’s great you are welcome too and we would love to talk to you about why we believe AdMore is a great place to work; or you may be a retailer. You might be just starting to think about doing something different. I’ve been there. When I left HMV in 2007 I got in touch with my now colleague Sophie Mackenzie and said “I love Retail but I want to do something different, I’m just not sure what.”
So let me tell you, whether you are an Area Manager, Store Manager, Buyer, HRBP, Property Manager or any other role in Retail why you should think about recruitment…and hopefully AdMore.
I will split this over two posts as I want to talk about Behaviours first and then Skills:
Behaviours
Resilience
I am not sure I need to explain this one given the rollercoaster most retailers have been on over the last few years. To be fair even in the good times it isn’t easy. There is rarely any respite, no rest period and little time for reflection. Retailers get two days off a year. When your average person is enjoying their May Day Bank holiday, Store managers and their teams are working harder then ever. It isn’t any easier further up the ladder either. Preparing for a 7am Monday morning board meeting, trying to shore up some shocking Like for Likes late in to a Sunday night certainly requires some resilience – and not just for the individual but for their families too. In recruitment we are often on a rollercoaster too - good and bad news comes every day, not always in equal measure.
High energy & Results Orientation
These days pretty much everything that a retailer does is measured in some way. The larger chains have engaged in some very detailed time and motion studies to increase productivity and that only serves to ratchet up the focus on results. Retailers live and die by their numbers. Even customer service scores and employee surveys are often boiled down to a single number. Are you above average? Did you top the region, the company or the industry? As with previous points, where Retailers really impress, is their ability to combine an orientation towards ‘getting a result’ with doing it the ‘right way’ – through their people and with customer at the heart of their decision. Oh, and with vigour, passion and good humour! We recruiters are also results orientated, the good ones keep the customer at the heart of what they do…
Customer & Service Orientation
We have all had poor experiences in a shop before but on the whole the service offered, in my opinion, is far higher than in other industries. The reason why I believe this is of particular importance is that the provision of service is generally one of many tasks that frontline and back office support retailers have to provide. Remaining focused on the customer when you have a refit taking place, maintenance issues, conference calls from head office, an audit, stock deliveries and a multitude of other tasks in your in-tray is both an art and a science. This isn’t just applicable at store level either, the demands being placed upon Directors and CEOs has reached stratospheric levels with an increasing uptake of Social Media. I have spoken to numerous Directors recently who are increasingly dealing directly with customer issues, in real time over Twitter…24/7.
Many of you will have experienced a bad recruiter before, often forgetting who their customers are (not just the client). Recruitment is changing at a similar pace to retail and the firms that keep a good service ethic will be very successful.
Self motivated
Retail is a very, very, very tough industry. Success or failure is often on a knife-edge. You have to be able to take the knocks and enjoy the wins. Most managers, regardless of job function, are highly self-motivated in retail. Recruitment also requires a high degree of self-motivation.
Empathy
In Retail and Hospitality you have to be able to empathise, you have to empathise with your customers, your colleagues, your team, your line manager, his/her line manager, your colleagues in HR, your suppliers, your shopping centre manager…the list goes on. Great retailers manage to maintain a balance. Great recruiters do too - telling a redundant candidate that they haven’t got the job that they desperately wanted requires tact and a huge dose of empathy.
Ownership & Accountability
With highly visible KPIs, strong processes and structure comes accountability. With accountability comes ownership! This swings both ways, when you are doing well you will receive the plaudits…when things are not going so well you will be held accountable. Retailers understand this relationship between success and failure and they own their results. You only have to listen to a politician on the radio to realise what a fantastic attribute this is! Recruitment is the same, some people over complicate what we do but in essence we are paid to get a result (in the right way). If you are working a retained assignment there is no room for failure, you have to own your work.
Urgency & Pace
I suspect that this is the most under-rated behaviour of all. Retail has always been a fast paced industry, driven by consumer demand, trends & perishable product. Quite simply, if you do not ‘get it right’ first time you will lose a sale to the competition. You snooze – you lose. With the onset of Social Media and internet shopping the urgency of delivery has become even more important. Most retail jobs are highly task focused and great retailers are able to prioritise, Urgent vs. Important, and deliver a result with pace. Having recruited for a number of organisations in other industries, Line Managers often talk about the need for an injection of urgency and love the pace that retailers operate at.
Drive & Passion
The beauty of the Retail Industry is that anyone can enter and anyone can do well. Of course degrees and other technical qualifications will help but if you have high levels of drive and you are passionate about what you do, you WILL be successful. The same is true of recruitment.
So, if you live close to Surrey or Solihull get in touch. We are looking for Recruitment Consultants and Researchers. You may think we pay low basic salaries. We don’t! You may have other negative perception(s) about a career in recruitment; well we are planning to dispel a few of those over the coming weeks on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Please follow us and keep an eye out!
For details about our current vacancies, please visit us on Facebook
This blog has been coming for a while now but a few conversations recently have given me the motivation to finally get it on to paper. I spoke to a candidate earlier in the week who is actively looking for a new role. I have spoken to this chap sporadically for a number of years. James (not his real name) has had a solid career to date and is a sensible fit for a couple of my clients. However, while there are probably other candidates out there that are a better fit on paper, I am going to back him over and above anyone else for this role.
Why? Because I am a member of his team.
How do I know this?
It is quite simple really. James once described himself to me as being a Manager that liked to get to know his people. He did this by asking open questions, keeping mental (and paper) notes and following these conversations up over long periods of time. His team(s) were engaged and they would go the extra mile for him.
James asks me questions too. We hadn’t spoken since the summer but he remembered my house move last May. Had I settled in? How did I find the new area, what was it like compared to London, how is my commute? He remembered that I have 2 year old twins demonstrating genuine empathy; how are the twins, are they sleeping, are YOU sleeping Jez? He commented that recruiters work long hours and that it must be tough to find a balance.
This conversation was very telling for me. Not only did my engagement levels with James go up another notch - what a great guy who I will really enjoy supporting in his job search - but also and perhaps more critically from a professional point of view, James WALKS THE WALK. James naturally builds rapport, has high levels of emotional intelligence and seeks to work collaboratively. This is exactly what several of my clients are looking for, so as a result, I will be backing James as I have seen first hand his ability to communicate and motivate.
Candidates often tell recruiters they are ‘people focused’ but often move on to behave arrogantly, or treat the consultant with disdain (it is true that some deserve this though). Your behaviour when working with a recruiter is generally a reflection on what you are like as a Manager/Leader.
The flip-side of this is how clients treat their agencies and manage recruitment processes. In the past I have worked with Companies that eulogise about what a wonderful place they are to work in but then proceed to treat recruiters with pure contempt. This also affects how I view that business and how I relate this perception to my candidates. Again, I know we recruiters have a bad reputation and many of you reading this will have multiple examples of poor recruiters but there are bad eggs in every walk of life.
If you want to get the best out of your recruiter then perhaps it is time to treat them as a MEMBER of YOUR TEAM.
Download the free Social Recruitment in Retail Report hereThe Three routes to market
Social LinkedIn has changed the jobs market in the same way Monster, Reed et al did in the early noughties. It has become a giant candidate database for agency and in-house recruiters while at the same time masquerading as a Social hub…oh and there are some interesting stories on LinkedIn Today…no wait, I mean Pulse. In 2014, if you are a candidate, passive or active, you absolutely must have a profile on LinkedIn. Ideally it will be accurate too! There are a few things to remember: